Wow. Okay, so this seriously is the most amazing response I have ever had to a story. I am thrilled that you guys like it, because I'm really starting to. Anyways, Josh Schwarz and Co. own everything, I am merely borrowing for entertainment purposes. Just please try to refrain from selling this, because then we might have a problem.
"Hey, dude, Tim's trying to sing 'Piano Man.' He's already five beers under and they keep coming. You have to see this."
Seth laughed, but shook his head. "Nah, man, I have to finish this."
"Finish what?" Brad fell by the side of his bed, obviously disappointed he wasn't listening to a Billy Joel imitation at that moment. "You keep bailing on us. I mean, you thought Joel was funny at breakfast, but you had to leave ten minutes later. What's so important?"
"It's...nothing."
"If it was nothing, we'd be telling Tim to try Justin Timberlake next. What's up with you?"
Seth shrugged, smoothing out the blanket next to him. "When you see it, you'll know. It'll just take me a little longer."
"Like how little longer?"
"I don't know, a little."
Brad groaned. "Fine. Whatever, Cohen. Just make sure the longer stays more little than longer, you know?"
Without looking up, Seth deadpanned, "Brad, do you understand what you just said?"
"Uh...no."
"There you go. Have fun, young man." He flicked his hand towards Brad, ushering him out of the room. Seth watched him walk out of the room and down the hall, flipped his legs around to the side of the bed, and pulled open the door.
Summer sat on the other side with an amused look on her face. "You're like James Bond."
Seth laughed. "Yes, yes, I know."
"Which one was it this time?"
"Dr. No. Or at least that's what all his ex girlfriends call him."
Summer giggled and scooted closer to the barrier between the two rooms. Seth shared her smile and leaned an elbow on one of his knees.
"Okay, so my turn." Summer pulled in her lips in mock deep thought. "Which is worse: having Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct proclaim her desire for you, or sweet, innocent Anthony Michael Hall in Sixteen Candles doing the same thing?"
"So I'm stuck between being slashed to death with an ice pick during hot, wild sex with an unbelievably gorgeous woman, or a guy known as 'The Geek' chasing after me and trying to steal my underwear?"
Summer nodded, keeping her face serious. Seth stared at the floor in front of him, tilting his head to either side. "I guess...Anthony Michael Hall, because Sharon Stone always freaked me out no matter how many times she crossed her legs."
"That's a lie. She was gorgeous in that movie. Hell, I would've done her."
Seth laughed and nodded. "This is true, but let me say from experience, that those unbelievably gorgeous women get boring after a while. And there isn't a lot more to them, because they're used to getting their way just because of who they are."
"There's a lot more to Catherine than her beauty. She's a novelist and basically a psychologist."
"Well, I'm just saying in general. And at least with 'The Geek,' I could keep my heart beating."
"That's true."
"Okay, so my turn. Which is worse: being Velma Kelly in Chicago or Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office?"
"You like Broadway?" Summer raised her eyebrows.
"I saw the movie. Answer the question."
"Velma Kelly. Because she didn't let her feelings be played around with. Monica was left without the guy, mourning over herself."
"Fair enough." Seth nodded, letting his head roll off his hand to the wall. Summer nodded too, offering an apologetic smile without really apologizing.
"Let's play a new game." Summer pulled her legs up against her chest.
"Okay, whatever. Suggestion?"
"Truth or dare."
"Isn't that a little overdone?" Seth asked.
"Pick one."
"Truth."
"Do you ever wish your life was different?"
"Yeah."
"How?"
"Choices. Everything's a choice. I picked some of the wrong ones."
"Why?"
"I never talked to you before."
Summer didn't blush. "You're just trying to hard to impress me."
"I'm serious. I care too much. I shouldn't. I shouldn't care what people think about each other. That's my problem. I don't care that much about what people think of me, but what they think about other people really interests me. Maybe it's because I was born to watch people, but I always notice."
Summer rested her head on her knees, turning so her knees touched her cheeks. Seth pulled in his lips and asked, "Truth or dare."
"Truth."
"Have you ever wanted to do something so bad that you couldn't? Like you wanted to, really bad, so bad that you couldn't figure out how? And then later, you wonder how things would be different if you had done it? And you think maybe it's the one thing that could finally fix this shit you've built around yourself? Maybe this one moment could've solved the puzzle you're lost in?"
Summer looked up and smiled. "You have to stop that."
"Stop what?"
"Making things up that you think are the right things to stay."
"You have to stop that."
She raised her eyebrows.
"Thinking the worst of me."
"Because I'm wrong. You were really interested in my answer to that run-on question?"
"Well, obviously not. I can't think that way."
"You just put too much effort into a question."
"I thought that was the point of the game. When you're thirteen, it's the opportunity to kiss some person that you've always wondered about. Now it's just to think about boundaries and shit like that."
Summer sighed, her eyes still locked with his.
"You know what?" He pushed himself up with his palms. "I have...um, some studying to do. I'll talk to you later."
"Cohen, don't go. I'm sorry if I offended you."
"I'm sorry if I ever made you believe anything you said about me was true."
"Seth, stop. Please."
Seth stopped with the door half closed. He stared off for a few seconds, and then decided to sit back down.
Summer smiled and said, "Yes. I have. More than once. But I have this annoying thing about believing in fate, and thinking the place I am right now had to be, no matter how uncomfortable it makes me feel."
Seth nodded, a blank look on his face. Summer's eyebrows furrowed, "What are you doing?"
"Hang on. I have to process this. You said please."
She rolled her eyes, but let out a laugh anyways.
"I'm sorry, but I think I enjoyed that a little too much..." He mumbled, laughing too. "It's your turn."
"Truth or dare."
"Dare."
"Don't move."
"What?"
"That's it. Just...don't move."
Summer's knees were on the ground, and Seth realized she had again moved closer. By the time she was on her knees looking down at him, he couldn't swallow. Even slower, she leaned down and grazed his reddened cheeks with her two hands. She bit her lip as he just looked at her questioning eyes. He noted silently that her lip was faintly shaking, but she still rested her ankles as she sank down to catch his bottom lip between the two of hers. His hand came up for a second to her shoulder, softly pushing, but he still wasn't moving his head away. Summer pushed back against his hand, her mouth still moving slowly over his.
"Wait. Stop." Seth got a hand on both her shoulders and shoved a little harder than he had to.
Summer fell backwards onto her butt. She shrugged and walked back into her room, falling down sideways onto her bed. Seth sighed and followed her, lying next to her.
Seth opened his mouth several times, words almost coming, but he shut his mouth instead. Summer kept stealing looks at him, and, with a tiny smile, murmured, "Sorry."
Seth just rubbed his face with his hands. "I should go."
"Yeah. Okay."
He sat up and unceremoniously walked back into his room, shutting the door behind him and collapsing onto his bed. Upon falling down, Seth felt something hard and moving.
"Jesus, Seth..."
Ryan twitched again, shaking Seth's head off of his leg, and wrapping the covers over his head.
"Oh, sorry, Ry. I didn't see you there...what are you doing here? I thought you were out with Tim and them."
Ryan let his head stick out, turning to see Seth. "I got bored. They do the same thing over...and over..."
Seth nodded and pulled a pillow up behind his head. "Yeah."
"Do you really have a project or is it just an excuse?"
"No, I do. Well, kind of. It's...weird."
"What is it?"
"I'm finally...fixing something. Well, it's more like I'm getting it fixed, because I'm not technically doing the fixing myself."
"Is it good? Like, it's not going to hurt anyone, right?"
"No." Seth slumped down and closed his eyes.
"You sure?"
"Ryan, can we talk about this in the morning? I'm really tired."
"It's, like, 8."
"It's been a long day."
"If you say so. I'm going to go for a walk."
"Did I interrupt your nap, Ryan? Because I can leave."
"You're really tired. Stay. And if Holly asks, I'll tell her you're really tired."
"Man, have I ever told you I loved you?"
"Not recently. Don't make it a habit, either."
"I'll try, but it might slip out sometimes."
"I'll accept that. Night."
"Good night." Seth rolled over onto his stomach as Ryan walked out the front door and down the hall.
Ryan closed the door in syncopation with Jane next door. She noticed him first, eyeing the folds in his jeans around his hips.
"Ryan, right?"
He jumped, spinning around her voice. Jane giggled, leaving the smile plastered to her face.
"Uh, sorry. Yeah. I'm Ryan. You're...Jen?"
"Jane. You can call me Janie, though."
"Oh. Well...thanks, Janie."
She leaned her arm against the doorframe, and giggled again at his fumbling for words.
"You're Seth's...brother. I remember you, from Holl's parties."
"Yeah, I'm the one in the corner."
"I noticed that too. Why is that?"
Ryan shrugged, leaning against his own doorframe. "I get bored easily."
"Really? Why is that?"
"Can't find the right company."
"Well, if you need any help..."
Jane slipped to her right as the door she was using as support opened.
"Jesus..." Summer gasped as Jane fell on top of her, pushing the two of them into the room. Ryan laughed, leaning forward to see the two of them.
"Roberts! What...the hell...is your problem?" Jane rolled off of Summer, her cheeks on fire.
"Sorry. I didn't expect the door to have a hood ornament," Summer muttered. She stood up first and noticed Ryan. "Hey."
He smiled wider, "Hi."
"Oh, god, was I interrupting something?" Summer laughed, looking from Jane fixing her hair to Ryan's cocked head. "Sorry." She laughed louder as she walked away.
"Hey!" Ryan ran up behind her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Actually, you came at just the right time. I was going to go to dinner alone."
"Well, wouldn't that be a travesty?"
"Yeah. Actually, it would. Care to be some arm candy?" Ryan extended his arm, making Summer laugh a little more nervously.
"Isn't it a little late for dinner?"
"I didn't get a chance earlier. However, all the more reason to bring someone along. Then, I won't be alone if everyone ate dinner at the time we were supposed to."
"Well, if you think you might end up being alone..." Summer looked from Jane's look of disgust to Holly walking down the hall towards them and smiled wider. "Let's go." She took Ryan's arm, laughing at the overly goofy smile on his face, and walked past Holly, who was raising her eyes at Miss Jane "call me Janie."
Ryan closed the door behind Summer, as she looked around the messy, yet empty, room.
"It's funny how much bigger rooms look when no one's in them."
Ryan nodded. "Quiet, too." He grabbed a dinner roll off of the buffet table, and sat on one of the ajar chairs, as he watched Summer look around the room.
"I don't want to go home," Summer giggled as she twirled around the wooden platform in the middle of the room. "This place was better than I thought it would be."
Ryan smiled at the dance steps she did quicker and quicker until she got dizzy.
"Come here." She held out her hand as he came closer, pulling him away from the decorated tables. He awkwardly stood in the middle of the hardwood floor.
"Now what?"
"Now you get to dance with me."
Ryan laughed, but shook his head. "I don't dance."
"I won't tell anyone." She took his two hands and pulled him around the floor, her sneakers and sweatpants sticking out in the glamorous dining room more than his feet narrowly missing his.
He shook his head. "And I thought I was awkward with the music."
"I'm the only one here. You're not awkward."
Ryan shrugged. "I have a talent for sucking at dancing."
She rolled her eyes. "You're not that bad. Here, try this."
Summer pulled his hands in hers down to her waist, holding onto one of them. Her now free hand went around his shoulder, and she pushed his hands and feet around the wood.
"You're pretty good," Ryan murmured, his eyes on Summer's forehead as she watched his feet.
"That's what, like, three years of ballroom dance classes will do to you. Now you know why I'm a dork," She giggled, finally looking up at his eyes. His smile was fading, and his hand was getting warmer on her hip.
"Ryan..."
"Summer," Ryan whispered. "You know you're better than all of them, right?"
"I don't..." He put up a finger to her lips and leaned forward on the platforms of his feet. The closer he came, the more Summer's hand shook, until she brought it up in front of him.
"Ryan...I-I'm really glad I have someone like you as a friend."
"Friend. Right."
"I'm sorry."
"It's fine. We're friends."
"I'm just kind of...well, it wouldn't be fair to you. And there's...this thing that...well, I mean, I want to see how it works out."
"Right. Well...good luck with that," Ryan muttered, bringing up his own hand to rub his mouth. "So..."
"Do you want to eat?"
Ryan glanced at the abandoned roll on the dining table and back to Summer's eyes.
"Um, actually, I forgot. I was supposed to eat later tonight with a...nother friend. I should probably wait."
"Are you sure? I mean, I doubt a piece of bread will ruin your appetite. We could...I don't know, talk, or something."
"No, I'm good. Thanks, though." He found a smile and started to walk back out of the dining room.
"Ryan." Summer stood still in the middle of the wood floor. Ryan turned around to her eyes, still big. "I'm really sorry."
"It's no problem." He nodded curtly, but didn't get a chance to turn around with Summer's hand on his arm. She turned him around and leaned into his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his neck.
It took him a few seconds to realize she was hugging him, but she pulled back with a smile. "Thank you for the dance."
Ryan actually smiled and nodded, his lip twitching with words, but his head deciding against them. He walked away slowly, taking a last glance over his shoulder as Summer picked up a roasted potato, humming quietly to herself.
Ryan knocked quickly on the door, checking his watch to make sure it wasn't yet an obscene hour. Marissa came to it a second later, a smile on her face when she saw him.
"Hey. Um, what's up?"
Ryan's eyes skimmed the towel wrapped tightly around her and the drops of water that were escaping the towel around her head. "I...um, is...Jane. Here? Is she here?"
"Um...no. I think she said something about Tim doing karaoke."
"Oh. Okay. Um, thanks anyway."
"No problem." Marissa started to close the door, but Ryan interrupted her.
"Are you in for the night?"
"Well, yeah. I think so."
"I know I only talked to you, like, once, but...you want to...like, swim?"
"Oh. You know I have a..."
"Boyfriend. We'd swim as friends."
Marissa giggled, and thought for a bit more than a second. "Actually, it'd be good to get out of here. How about I call Luke, make sure he doesn't...freak or anything, and then I'll get changed? You're just next door; I'll knock when I'm done."
"Great. Okay."
"Okay." Marissa shut the door, and she smiled a confused yet satisfied smile. She looked carefully at the phone, but picked it up, ignoring her hesitation.
"No response is available from Room 324. Press 1 if you would like to leave a message."
Marissa hung up the phone and assumed that Tim was really butchering Billy Joel if it brought everyone out of their rooms. She grabbed her bathing suit anyway, quickly changed, and grabbed a pen to jot down a note for Summer or Jane.
"At the swimming pool. Tell Luke if he asks. Coop."
Marissa grabbed the damp towel, pulled a Harbor Pirates shirt over her head, and knocked on the boys' door.
"Hey, you ready to go?" Ryan asked, taking a towel of his own.
"Yeah. Does Seth want to come?" She nodded towards Seth still on the bed.
Ryan shook his head. "He's in and out of sleep."
"All right, cool. Shall we?"
Marissa smiled and nodded, thinking for a second about linking his arm, but he wasn't a girlfriend. So there'd be questions. She settled for walking next to him, the silence an odd mix between awkward and satisfying.
Seth rolled off the bed, yawning, but glad to be finally moving. Ryan had given him orders not to until the door was closed, and it was extremely gratifying to have Ryan be the one worried about some girl and what she thought.
He was ready to finally give in to make Brad happy and make an appearance when the door opened before he touched the knob. A flash of dark hair came in and pushed him backwards onto the bed he had been so happy in leaving. Sweet lips pushed against him. Quick fingers threaded through the hairs on his neck. And Seth had known it wasn't Holly since the second the door opened, but the thought of closing the door hadn't yet crossed his mind.
Much more slowly than before, the dark hair lifted off of him as if regaining some sort of memory and composure. She walked back to the door and closed it, then turned to look back at Seth leaning on his elbows.
"What are you...?"
"I'm sorry," Summer rambled. "I don't know what's up with me. I just...I've never been that obsession person. But...I haven't been able to stop thinking about you for days. And that sounds weird, because it is, and I mean...I've never really been like this before. What's up with me, you know?"
"I don't..."
"Neither do I. I have no idea. But all I want to do is kiss you again so I can think about it again later."
Seth fumbled with pushing himself up, and looked at Summer biting her lip and playing with her hands.
"Um...okay," he replied, finally in a sitting position.
"Really?"
"I guess. I mean I guess I've always been a crappy boyfriend. Why ruin a good thing, you know?"
Summer smiled, Seth mimicking it. It never occurred to her as weird how they could joke about cheating on his girlfriend. Not much occurred to her, because she was crawling back into his lap, his head only slightly lower than hers. And he was kissing her back. Finally, he was kissing her back. And his hand was pushing up her back, tiny folds of fabric coming with it. But he wasn't pushing her. Summer had fondled the idea that all Seth Cohen really wanted was sex ever since they had gotten into high school. She had forgotten tonight as she walked down the hall and into her room. She had no recollection as she read Marissa's note and figured Ryan had gone with her, because it obviously wasn't Luke; it wasn't Jane, because then the note would've been addressed specifically to Summer. After she had kissed him, the thought had resurfaced, but now that his hands were moving ever so slowly up her back, Summer decided she had always been wrong. She must've judged him too quickly, because Seth Cohen was as tender as he was in her dreams, and the only thing she had to feel uncomfortable about was whether or not she was kissing him the right way.
She had positioned herself with a thigh on either side of his legs, but she greatly preferred it when Seth pushed her over to the slightly rumpled cover and rested carefully on top of her, one of his hands trying to support his weight as the other combed through her hair. Summer had been nervous before, because to an outsider, it would appear that she was in control and had some sort of clue what she was doing. But when she was underneath him, he could take care of her and was forced to move to please her.
And she didn't know much about it, but Summer could tell he was good at whatever he was doing. He was gentle, but forceful, and everytime he made any sort of noise, she couldn't help smiling. This was bizarre, and it was bad, but he was so perfect.
"Summer...we're not..." He gulped slightly, his head ducking. "We can't..." He raised his eyebrows, trying to convey what he needed to with very little breath and very little desire to convey it at all. "So...maybe we should stop."
Abruptly, he rolled off of her and covered his mouth with one hand. Summer folded up, watching him breathe and his fingers tap compulsively against his leg. He noticed her looking at him and dropped his hand.
"Sorry about that." He wasn't looking into her eyes, but he was looking at her face. Summer nodded, her hand following his on his thigh.
"Not your fault." She smiled as her fingers found his.
He laughed exasperatedly, combing his hair with his free hand. "Yeah. Well...not completely. It's your father and mother's fault that you're so damn beautiful."
She softly smiled and brought up his hand to kiss his knuckle. "Well...I should...go?"
He shrugged, pulling lightly on her hand until she fell down on the bed next to him. They lay straight on their backs, watching the ceiling, their hand playing with each other's.
"This is bad," Seth finally said, decidedly.
"Yeah."
"Because if Holly ever found out, you'd...die."
Summer giggled at his frank tone. "Something like that. Or she might."
"No, you don't understand. She has minions that'll help her."
"Well, I..."
"We should just probably...not do it again."
"Probably."
"But..."
"But."
"But it was good. Nice."
Summer smiled, rolling onto her side and bringing their hands up to her collarbone. "Nice."
"Something like that." He finally looked at her and grinned into her eyes. Summer laughed and kissed his forehead.
"I'll see you tomorrow?"
"It's a possibility."
"Good." She walked through the adjoining rooms, leaving him with a single wave before closing the door. She was planning on replaying the entire day in her head until she fell asleep, but the girl in the room halted her.
"What the hell were you doing?" Jane asked, a hand on her hip.
